Nothing is known about this skald (HSt) except what can be deduced from his nickname, which has been identified with the farm-name Höll, in Þverárhlíð, Mýrasýsla, western Iceland (Finnur Jónsson 1907, 185), and from the poetry attributed to him. His main extant work is the drápaRekstefja (HSt Rst), whose ambitious praise of Óláfr Tryggvason might well point to Iceland at the end of the twelfth century or somewhat later (see Skj, and Introduction to the poem below). Hallar-Steinn has been identified (e.g. by Wisén 1886-9, I, 143) with the eleventh-century poet Steinn Herdísarson (SteinnII), but this is implausible. HSt Frag 1, of uncertain origin but probably attributable to this poet, may also commemorate Óláfr Tryggvason, while HSt Frag 2-5III represent a love-lorn poet. These fragments are preserved only in treatises on poetics and grammar, and are therefore edited in SkP III, as are two further fragments, HSt Frag 6-7III.

notes: Óláfr’s return to Norway is also the subject of Anon Óldr 9. — [1-4]: The placing of the verb phrase lét haldit ‘steered’ at the end of the helmingr would be abnormal in standard dróttkvætt poetry, where the finite verb appears second or first in independent clauses (Gade 1995a, 213), but it is not uncommon in skjálfhent poetry; see also sts 18/5-6, 22/1 and Notes. — [5-8]: The displaced heathen jarl would be Hákon jarl Sigurðarson, though the tradition is that he fled from a rebellion of his subjects, but never left Norway (see ‘Ruler biographies’ in Introduction to this volume). This is compatible with the story here if hjarl (l. 8) means ‘territory’, but not if it refers to the whole land of Norway.